[Footnote:  1 A fortified town a little to the south of Memphis.]

And I answered and said, “The matter was not of my doing, for, behold, it was done by the hand of God; bodily terror made me to flee according to what was ordained.  But, behold, I am here in thy presence!  Thou art life.  Thy Majesty doeth as thou pleasest.”  And the King dismissed the royal children, and His Majesty said unto the Queen, “Look now, this is Sanehat who cometh in the guise of an Asiatic, and who hath turned himself into a nomad warrior of the desert.”  And the Queen laughed a loud hearty laugh, and the royal children cried out with one voice before His Majesty, saying, “O Lord King, this man cannot really be Sanehat”; and His Majesty said, “It is indeed!”

Then the royal children brought their instruments of music, their menats and their sistra, and they rattled their sistra, and they passed backwards and forwards before His Majesty, saying, “Thy hands perform beneficent acts, O King.  The graces of the Lady of Heaven rest [upon thee].  The goddess Nubt giveth life to thy nostrils, and the Lady of the Stars joineth herself to thee, as thou sailest to the South wearing the Crown of the North, and to the North wearing the Crown of the South.  Wisdom is stablished in the mouth of Thy Majesty, and health is on thy brow.  Thou strikest terror into the miserable wretches who entreat thy mercy.  Men propitiate thee, O Lord of Egypt, [as they do] Ra, and thou art acclaimed with cries of joy like Nebertcher.  Thy horn conquereth, thine arrow slayeth, [but] thou givest breath to him that is afflicted.  For our sakes graciously give a boon to this traveller Sanehat, this desert warrior who was born in Tamera (Egypt).  He fled through fear of thee, and he departed to a far country because of his terror of thee.  Doth not the face that gazeth on thine blench?  Doth not the eye that gazeth into thine feel terrified?” Then His Majesty said, “Let him fear not, and let him not utter a sound of fear.  He shall be a smer official among the princes of the palace, he shall be a member of the company of the shenit officials.  Get ye gone to the refectory of the palace, and see to it that rations are provided for him.”

Thereupon I came forth from the privy chamber of the King, and the royal children clasped my hands, and we passed on to the Great Door, and I was lodged in the house of one of the King’s sons, which was beautifully furnished.  In it there was a bath, and it contained representations of the heavens and objects from the Treasury.  And there [I found] apparel made of royal linen, and myrrh of the finest quality which was used by the King, and every chamber was in charge of officials who were favourites of the King, and every officer had his own appointed duties.  And [there] the years were made to slide off my members.  I cut and combed my hair, I cast from me the dirt of a foreign land, together with the apparel of the